Crash Bandicoot 4 : It's About Time

INTRODUCTION & FEATURES

Crash it's about time is the direct sequel to the last platformer of the ps1 saga, Crash Bandicoot Warped, which came to the market with the intention of revamping and giving a new future to the franchise (the 2 previous games were remakes of ps1 titles).
As has now been done in the remakes, the player can choose whether to tackle the levels with Crash or with Coco; the two will have the same basic mechanics, i.e. jumping, spinning, crawling (though never used personally) and crashing to break iron crates. In this chapter they can also slide on tracks or lianas or other gimmicks adapted by the players. As usual, we find the classic and iconic crates of the crash world with a novelty. A new crate containing fruits will be incendiary, it is up to the player to choose the right moment to break them before they ignite. Of course we find the Aku Aku crates with the mechanic of the 3 masks= invincibility for a limited duration.
There are a total of 64 levels, spread over 10 dimensions. Each level contains 12 gems that can be taken via 'objectives' of crates taken, wumpa fruits taken (in the beta there was supposed to be a gem just for wumpa) number of deaths and finally the hidden gem. The gems are usefull to unlock the 26 skins.
Some levels contain flashback tapes. They wink at the first chapters of the series because:
- They will be accessible if you don't die until you find them in the level ( exactly like certain platforms that you could pick up and send you to an inaccessible part of the level )
- These levels (which will pop up in the hub of the levels that have been depicted in Crash bandicoot 1 style) will be very reminiscent as environment and placement of crates the various levels that you could face by taking the tokens of Cortex and N.Brio always in Crash 1. They will take place inside the castle of Cortex when, in 1996, he was experimenting on Crash. Besides other trophies you can find out some things about the lore of the Crash Bandicoot games.
Ah... also interestingly, the perspective of the level would be the one Cortex himself would have had during these Bandicoot experiment sessions....all with an oldschool VHS filter.

The most interesting features of this chapter are the quantum masks which open up new ways of conceiving the franchise's platforming and freshen up the gameplay, also opening up level design possibilities for the developers. These mask make more interesting bonus level, because make bonus challenging and hard to understand

KUPUNA-WA

Slowdown time

LANI LONI

Switch dimension
(Active\ Desactive Crates)

IKA IKA

Reverse Gravity

Enhanced Spin & Boost Jump

AKANO

PUZZLE PLATFORMING

One aspect that impressed me a lot was the difficulty of the platforming, especially in the bonus levels. Bonus level in this Crash Bandicoot are, maybe, the most difficult part in some levels. If before we could say that breaking crates was rather linear with a few exceptions with a 1 or 2 crates at the most per level left a few centimetres behind and then activating an iron crate and going further ahead and going back for the 2 crates left before.This process has been taken and modified and made more difficult.
In the bonuses we can in fact find two (roughly) types of puzzle-platforming:
-Placed crates to reach higher placed crates that will only be activated at the end of the bonus and then go back (being careful not to break the crates needed to reach the desired heights)
-Bonus with masks + combinations mentioned above

KingdomHearts Master channel on youtube created a playlist of all bonus in the game

MORE CHARACTERS, LESS POWER-UP

As a direct sequel to Crash Bandicoot Warped, you'll remember how to add content and 'broaden' the level design possibilities between jumps, crates, enemies, in the old title at the end of each boss there was a tool/power up that you could unlock:

SLAM

DOUBLE JUMP

SPIN

BAZOOKA WUMPA

SPEED SHOES

Now this modus operandi has changed. Crash for example already starts with the double jump and with downward tumble plus the slide you already have the basic mechanics of the game.With these basic moves, playable characters have been added (under the guise of the multi-story multiverse) who re-play these simple mechanics from the 90s.

-With Tawna there will be the grappling hook useful for killing enemies, exploding nitro without being killed, and picking up crates that will be placed "off-map"

-With Dingodile the double jump mechanic is reinterpreted with an air rifle, useful for jumping and double jumping, but also for attracting tnt's to himself and throw them, useful for breaching certain points of the level to go further....or simply to kill enemies

-With Cortex finally, since he's human, he doesn't have a double jump, he doesn't have a spinning top and he can't even do a belly flop to smash crates...but being a scientist he uses his tools to do everything. With his gun we can change the size of the enemy into a bouncing, fixed or 'transparent' platform. We also have access to a sprint that emulates the crash slide, with the difference that it can also be used in the 'flight' phases.

It must be said that these gameplay variants are 'locked' to the storyline levels of Tawna,Dingodile and Cortex only. These will not have interactions with the various masks, which will be an addition to the mechanics for Crash and Coco

CONTROLS AND LEVEL FLOW

Compared to the older titles in the franchise we have a really nice controls...perhaps because the first ones came out 30 years ago?
But nevertheless a job well done by the developers who have created a level that can be tackled completely on the run between jumps and slides (which in this chapter also allow you to go off the ground to make longer and higher jumps) and mask powers that make the various phases extremely fluid.
With the right timing and the desire to attack the time to beat, there are no dead phases in the level. Each level is dynamic and each inch of it, it require all the knowledge (and controls) we have
There's no downtime between platforms that move and enemies that wander around.... everything can be tackled in one go, thanks also to the power that will be given at the end of the game (at least in the main story) that allows you to be fast with a lot of training... like the speed shoes in Crash Warped, but you have to be a pro to be able to do it....thanks Toys for Bob

CAMERA

One of the most frustrating aspects of the game is its camera decisions. To play with perspective and to strategically place crates in difficult or hidden spots, the camera sometimes aids the player—but other times, it becomes a real nuisance.

Compared to the PS1 chapters (and their remakes), the camera now allows for slight adjustments, letting players see a bit more of what’s happening off-screen. This ties into the game's core objective of collecting as many crates as possible. In theory, this should give players greater control over the level, but in practice, it doesn’t. The developers frequently manipulate the camera—lowering or raising it dynamically based on the player's movements—to create a parallax effect that deliberately adds difficulty. The results of this choice are: enemies appearing closer or farther than they actually are, miscalculated jumps, crates that only become visible after multiple deaths. Many crates are also placed in obscure locations, not immediately visible from the default camera angle.

That said, at least the developers included an opaque black ring with a yellow border beneath the characters' shadows. This helps with landing accuracy and distance calculation—perhaps a last-minute addition when they realized that, without it, certain sections would be nearly unplayable. (For those who prefer a greater challenge, the ring can be disabled in the options menu.)

Some crates are offscreen. The player is obliged to go offscreen himself

One of several parallax jokes in the game ( there are crates behind the dock)

No, I will not break the box

Not sure of the distance between me and the robot and between the robot and the man

Hard to know the distance between crash and dinosaur...and his hitbox too

Too late or too soon for a jump?

MANY...A LOT...PERHAPS TOO MUCH

What am I talking about? Obviously about the trophies, chests, gems and wumpa we can find in this game

Too many crates to hope to get them all the first time, the user is obliged to replay the same level several times even at the cost of losing dozens of times (hence I think the fact that modern mode is widely recommended) to see where the crates are hidden. Learning certain areas and times by heart is a must.Some times crates or gems are located in places very hard to find, so they added a "trial and error" method to find them, i'm not agree with that...or just they hav finished ideas with some crates. Other of them are snakily hidden but at the same time brialliant way ( look at the pictures)
Too many gems. There are gems for numbers of deaths, broken boxes,wumpa, secrets gems and than do that twice thanks to N.verted levels. Gems are the way to reward the player's skill and perseverance, as are the skins, which are unlocked by taking all the gems in the various levels.

MUSIC IN DESIGN

In Crash 4 we also find some nice tidbits with music. Putting music or sound components interacting with the player is one of the new peculiarities that the developers have included in the game. In fact, in the world of N.Gin and in the level "Off Beat" we will be able to interact with certain elements of the game world by producing sounds that will go in time with the level's song.

Of course, how could we not mention the boss fight with N.Gin. In fact, this boss fight is to all intents and purposes a Guitar Hero level (also a game from the Activision stable after Skylanders, which makes an appearance in the Off Beat level). The level looks like a death metal concert where N.Gin will be on stage as a drummer throwing waves of "something" and we have to dodge them... a little bit happened for example in Crash Bndicoot Warped with N.Trophy but this time mixing the mechanics of the classic Crash bosses with the level design of Guitar Hero.

One of the levels that impressed me the most was the one set during the "Mardi Gras" in a New Orleans of the Crash Bandicoot multiverse.
Here for the second time in the title the player 'plays' with music (after the levels with N.Gin) but plays it differently.
Everything is in time, bouncing sounds, enemies, some vfx are tuned to the music of the level. It is also possible to 'play' in platform-keyboards where the main music will be lowered a little and the notes of the pianola will be brought to the fore.

N.Gin GuitarHero

Bongos Platform

Pianola

THE END

I consider myself a crash bandicoot veteran.
This title actually enters by far on the top of the crash bandicoot games. The graphical and gameplay restyling is pleasant as are the storytelling cues in this chapter.
But I have to say that at certain junctures the game seemed unnecessarily drawn out, many levels being quite long and becoming almost frustrating for many players. According to Steam only 15.8% of players have received the end of story achievement, on Ps4 only 17% and on Ps5 10%, which means that many, perhaps even too many, have abandoned the game due to its nature.
It's a game that as much as you can see the love of the developers but you don't really understand, at least from what I think of it, who the game's audience is?.For casual gamers I wouldn't say.

For old-school gamers (ps1)? For fans in general? ( lots of references and easter eggs around the levels) Will gamers who don't know the brand that much like the game? or know it from the remakes?
I think it's unnecessarily long in some levels and some of its trophies, like the N.vert levels.....but at the end of it all, all these gems that in the end are just to get new skins, are a reward for those who love the brand (and catch the easter eggs) and for those who have achieved a certain mastery in the game....in short for players who like to master their games (expert-senior profile)
Anyway, this is a game that has worked well in mechanics and controls, modernised a 30-year-old concept while remaining a classic corridor platformer. I loved the little alternative storyline levels so much, because they were shorter perhaps, and especially because they added a little something extra to the spinning top and double jump.

The grappling hook, the gun turns objects and the vacuum cleaner I consider to be objects that perhaps could have found a little more space in the core of the game...but not like the last world.
I can say that I had the feeling of playing a game so loved by the developers themselves (probably all hard platforming players) that they tried hard to make you play each level at least 3-4 times, thus turning the product more into a goal machine for people who want to master a game by getting all the trophies in game and on steam/ps/xbox. After 500+ gems taken, after so many relics, flashback tapes levels tackled the player "win"only 2 cinematics at 100% and 106%...it's not so rewarding I think.Maybe the gems could have been used to unlock other alternate timelines? In my opinion it would have been more rewarding for casual gamers and maybe even pro gamers...who knows but this Crash Bandicoot 4: It's about time is one of better corridor platform in the world